Communicative strategies and socio-cultural identities in talk shows

The creation, diffusion and success of television programs generally known as talk shows have made of this type of broadcasts a true speech genre characteristic of societies and cultures where it is produced and/or consumed. These programs may be interpreted as anthropological showcases, firstly, in terms of the topics and participants in the debate, and, secondly, as an example of democratic exchange of ideas. Identities are presented and negotiated through interlocutive behavior as well as through the discourse strategies used by different contributors. The general purpose of this article is to analyze the relationship between socio-cultural identities and communicative strategies in one particular case: One of the programs of La vida en un xip (a top rating talk show produced by the Catalan television network, TV3), where the topic was 'neighborhood watch against drug traffic'. In this analysis, special attention is paid to the discourse behavior of each participant. This behavior is (a pioi) related to socio-cultural identity (role, status, communicative contract), and also contributes to (re)creating and reinforcing identity. Discourse behavior is shown both in the interlocutive dimension (type and number of turns, interruptions and time occupied) and the enwtciative dimension (the presentation and argumentation of each particular verbal product). These two dimensions enable us to (i) build a discursive picture of each participant in the debate which has a very close connection with his/her specific socio-cultural identity, and (ii) compare these pictures in the context of a particular program.